by Brad Ricca
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MAJOR WORKS
The majority of sources for this book are the newspaper articles or periodicals that are cited in the notes. This list includes the major textual sources on Grace Humiston and some of the subjects of this book. The shortness of this list reflects how little has been written about her.
Abbott, Karen. “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes.” Smithsonian.com. August 23, 2011.
Boehm, Randolph. “Mary Grace Quackenbos and the Federal Campaign Against Peonage.” Shadows over Sunnyside. Fayetteville: U of Arkansas P, 1993.
Bond, George H. “Report by the Special Deputy Attorney.” New York: New York State Attorney General’s Office, 1917.
Borgognoni, Elizabeth Olivi. Italians of Sunnyside 1895–1995, Lake Village, AK: Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 1995.
Daniel, Pete, ed. The Peonage Files of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1901–1945. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1989.
Dougherty, Joseph F., and K. S. Daiger. “Behind Drawn Blinds.” True Detective Mysteries, March 30, 1930.
Evans, Colin. Slaughter on a Snowy Morn. London: Icon, 2010.
Halvorsen, Dick. “The Hidden Grave.” Master Detective, April 1954.
Humiston, Grace, with Isabel Stephen. “Won’t You Help Me Find My Girl?” Actual Detective May 4, 1938.
Hunt, William R. Front-Page Detective. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State UP, 1990.
Kelly, Charles. The Crime Lawyer. Amazon Kindle ed., 2002.
______. Grace Humiston and the Vanishing. Self-published, 2012.
Klein, Gertrude. “But the State Said She Must Hang.” Actual Detective, March 23, 1938.
Kron, Julius J., with Isabel Stephen. “The Inside Story of the Ruth Cruger Case.” True Detective, May 1926.
______. “My Encounter with a White-Slave Ring.” Mysterious Crimes. New York: True Story, 1934.
Marshall, Frank. “Where There Are Women There’s a Way.” Good Housekeeping, July 1918.
McCarl, Tim. “The First Woman Detective.” Murder, Mischief and Mayhem: A Process for Creative Research Papers. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1978.
New Jersey v. Tolla. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined Before the New Jersey Supreme Court, Newark: Soney and Sage, 1906.
Outland, Robert B., III. Tapping the Pines. Baton Rouge: Louisiana UP, 2004.
Poole, Ernest. His Family. New York: Macmillan, 1917.
Quackenbos, Mary Grace. A Question for the House of Governors. New York: People’s Law Firm, 1909.
______. Report on Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas. Department of Justice Straight Numerical Files, Record Group 60, 100937, September 28, 1907.
“Statement of Mrs. Mary Grace Quackenbos.” Hearings Before Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. House of Representatives, 61st Congress. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, March 29, 1910.
RESOURCES
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
www.missingkids.org
1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
FBI Kidnappings and Missing Persons
www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap
The Polly Klaas Foundation
www.pollyklaas.org
U.S. Department of Justice
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
www.namus.gov
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org
The Wayne Foundation
www.waynefdn.org
I.C.E. Child Exploitation Investigations Unit
https://www.ice.gov/predator
RAINN
www.rainn.org
National Suicide Prevention Hotline
1 (800) 273-8255
Walk Free
www.walkfree.org
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you, reader, for buying, downloading, or borrowing—and reading—this book.
The two people who deserve the most thanks are my editor, Michael Homler, and my agent, Scott Mendel. They saw right through the infinite previous ideas that came before this one. They instead pushed me to write something different and unsafe in the genre I dislike the most. This was not the book I set out to write, but in all the ways that count, it absolutely is. I am very grateful that even when they doubted my ideas, they never doubted me.
Because so little evidence exists of Grace Humiston’s life, I relied on the important work of great librarians and archivists from all over the world. In no particular order or affiliation, they are David Gary, Margaret Chisholm, John Nann, Maurice Klapwald, Christina Violeta Jones, Rebecca L. Collier, Michael Foight, Gregory J. Plunges, Esperanza Lopez, Suzan Tell, Robert Ellis, Tal Nadan, Lisa Darms, Celeste Leigh Brewer, Gregory J. Plunges, Rosalba Varallo Recchia, Tammy Kiter, Julio Hernandez-Delgado, Linnea Anderson, Landis McEachin, David P. Sobonya, Lisa Darms, and Celeste Brewer.
Other people who helped or offered their expertise include Patterson Smith, Doug Willete, Larry Goldsmith, Joni Balter, Jeff Trexler, Barbara Burgess Van-Aken, and Cesarina Casanova in Italy. Special thanks to Randy Boehm, who knows more about Grace than anyone alive and whose work on Sunny Side is the gold standard. He welcomed me into the “Grace Club” with open arms. I very much look forward to his own book on her.
Personally, for advice, support, or encouragement along the way, thanks to Gary Lee Stonum, David Giffels, the Cleveland Arts Prize, Stephanie Michaels and David Weaver of the Ohioana Library, George Bilgere, Cyrus Taylor, Jim Calder, the NEOMFA, Henry Adams, Peter Whiting, Michael Clune, Grafton Nunes, Robert Maschke, Matt Martin, Dave Lucas, Lance Parkin, Heidi MacDonald, Gerard Jones, Nathan Greno, Lisa Nielson, Renato Cocchi, Lee Chilcote, Alenka Banco, Mike Householder, Shelley Costa, Tom Batiuk, Anne Trubek, Ted Sikora and Milo Miller, and the great Rosa Ransom and Suzanne DeGaetano of macsbacks.com. And Shelley and Paul Servodio, who are my friends. And to everyone I thanked in Super Boys. Thanks as well to the good people at St. Martin’s Press, especially John Morrone, Lauren Jablonski, Amelie Littell, and Angela Gibson, who all made this a better book.
A very heartfelt thanks to President Barbara K. Snyder, of Case Western Reserve University, for instituting a family leave plan, letting me work on this book in guerrilla fashion between changing diapers and playtime with my son.
Thanks to Eric Dicken, also of Case Western Reserve University, who asked me to introduce my favorite author, Neil Gaiman, at a reading there. Though it was a great experience, it was Eric’s act of somehow remembering that I was a fan—and then asking me to do it—that was even better than the event itself (no offense, Neil). Thanks, pal.
Thanks to my family—everywhere and everywhen—for putting up with me when I made charts and taped photos to the walls and rushed through dinner and never slept. You are the best—I love you all. Thanks to Caroline, for always being the best mystery. And to James and his new brother or sister—I don’t know your name yet, or who or what you are, but we’re all waiting for you.
See you soon.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Grace is Grace Winterton Humiston.
Henry is Henry Cruger.
Ruth is Ruth Cruger.
Alfredo is Alfredo Cocchi.
Maria is Maria Magrini Cocchi.
Acker, Merrall, and Condit’s Hotel and Store, a couple checking into
Adams, district judge
Adkins, James C.
Adler, Mrs. Felix
Alfaro, Don Luis R.
Alling, Doctor
America, Doyle’s visit to
anarchist bombers
Ankenmann, Henry
Annapolis, Md., murder case
Appelbaum, Misha
Aranow, Frank
army, U.S.
soldiers’ reputation hurt by Grace, although “soldiers are not saints”
<
br /> training camp for draftees
Arnold, Dorothy
Ashley, William Clarence D.
Austria, a couple from, disputed marriage of
Bagg, Stanley
Bagnoli, Signor
Baker, Newton D.
Baltimore, Md., police
Baright, Clarice (woman lawyer)
Baroncin, Francesco
Barra, Caesar B. F.
Bartlett, sheriff
Battle of the Somme
Bauer, Frank
Beck, Helen
Becker, Charles
Be Kind Club
Bell, J. Franklin
Bellevue Hospital
Benson, Gladys
Berardinelli, Michele
Berry, Amanda
Bible House
Bibles given to army draftees
Biggs, Amza W.
Bittle, George
Black Hand
origins of
Black Tom Island, ammunition explosion
Blackwell’s Island
Blady, Victor
Blake, Katherine Devereux
Bly, Nellie
Bohan, Owen
Boissevain, Inez. See Milholland, Inez
Bologna, Italy
Bonaparte, Charles
Bond, George H.
Botwin, Yushe
Bourges, Camille
boys hanging out in pleasure palaces, accosting girls passing by
Brandon, Lottie May
anonymous confession to murder of
exhumed, new autopsy
found murdered in bed
the other man (alleged lover)
Brandon, Valentine
Bregagnolo, Ernesto
Breslau, Irving
Brinckmann, Leah
Broderick, bishop Bonaventure F.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn Life
Brown, Alfred
Brown, Frank
Brown, Lewis
Brown, William
Bruere, Martha Bensley
Buck, B. F.
Bulgaria
Burch, Ida
Bureau of Missing Persons, New York City
Burns, William J.
detective work on Ruth Cruger case
meets Arthur Conan Doyle
Buse, Harold
Bustwick, Samuel
Butler, Richard (“a Columbia man”)
Byrne’s Detective Agency
Caggiano, Joseph
Calenda, ship’s captain
Camorra gang
Camp, Joseph
Camp Union, Long Island
alleged vice around
alleged women victims around
building of
candles vs. acetylene carbide torches, in Our Lady of Mount Carmel celebration, safety question
capital punishment, opposition to
Carter, Marshal
Case of the Coroner’s Cabinet
Case of the Giant and the Chair
Case of the Marked Neck
Case of the Missing Skater
difficulty of bringing charges
finding of the body
how Grace solved it
Kron’s story of solving it
number of detectives assigned to
possible accomplices in, including police
tips and clues
Case of the Mysterious Island of Sunnyside
Castigliano, Antonio
the Castle dance hall, Grace’s project
Catalini, Augusto
Catchings, Thomas
The Celebrated Stielow Case (film)
child support, a case of
Child Welfare Committee of America
Cica, Michael
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Post
cities, immigrants in
Clark, Rep. Frank
Clary, Mrs. H. T.
Cobb, Magistrate
Cocchi, Alfredo
alias Lou Marinaro
attempt to extradite to New York
Catholic confession of before he fled
claims in court that Maria was the killer
convicted and sentenced in Bologna
depositions taken in New York for the trial in Italy
disappearance of, and flight to Italy
discovered and arrested in Bologna, Italy
exposed his private parts
fights with wife Maria
girl molesting history
has dirt dug out from cellar
indicted in New York
interrogation in Bologna and confession
investigation in New York
Italian citizenship
open letter to, from Maria
origin in Bologna
policemen friends of
press condemns as kidnapper of Ruth
released as rehabilitated (1947)
reputation and true nature of
search of his shop
suicide attempt in his cell
trial of, in Italy
young children of, his stated concern for
Cocchi, Alfredo, father of
Cocchi, Arturo (Athos)
Cocchi, Georgette (baby)
Cocchi, Joseph
Cocchi, Maria Magrini
accused by Alfredo of Ruth’s murder
Alfredo, in Italy, speaks of
attacked by Alfredo’s father on his visit to America
hires Kron as mechanic, then fires him
investigated by detectives
later life
letter to Alfredo’s brother
marriage to and life with Alfredo
not sent to Italy to testify
offers to help the Crugers
refuses search of the shop
reports Alfredo missing
said to be a good mother
sought an abortion, per Alfredo, but she denies it
testimony of
Cocchi family, “of murderers”
Columbia Law School
Columbia University
boy from, that Ruth liked
See also Butler, Richard
Committee of Morals (War Department)
Committee on Protective Work for Girls at Camp Upton
Congress, U.S., hearing on peonage
Cooper, Alonzo
Corbin, Austin
coroners, New York City, scandal over
Costigan, Dan
Creditt, Edith
crime
born vs. made criminals (Kron)
no mysteries in (Burns)
of passion vs. intentional
criminal persuasion (Grace’s term)
Crittenden, O. B.
Crittenden & Co.
Cruger, Catherine (baby)
Cruger, Christina (daughter of Henry)
Cruger, Mrs. Christina (wife of Henry)
Cruger, Helen
initial search for Ruth
possible visit to Italy
Cruger, Henry
detectives hired by
fight with Ruth, alleged
Grace hired by
initial search for Ruth
later years of
open letter to mayor Mitchel
own detective work
present when Ruth’s body is discovered
publicizes Ruth’s disappearance, but blamed for barrage of tips
reward offered
reward to Grace, declined by her
works with detectives
Cruger, Ruth
body discovered
boyfriends of
church work of
clues and sightings
coroner’s report
elopement theory of police
failure to discover body
good character of
how she died
ice-skating of
interred in Valhalla, N.Y.
itinerary of, on the day she disappeared
missing, search fo
r
missing person complaint
prayers for
propositioned to ride in a motorcar
publicity about
search for
Crumpacker, Edgar D.
Cuniffe, detective
Daily Worker
dance halls
Danforth, Dr. L. L.
Death House, Sing Sing
de Beck, Eugene
de Clemens, so-called Count
DeJesus, Gina
Del Campo, Jose A.
Delehanty, James A.
Demarco, Mr.
de Nemethy, Cathy
de Nemethy, Helen
Dent, Dr. Emmet Cooper “Doctor Devil”
deportations
Des Planches, Baron Edmondo
detectives
first use of word, by Dickens
New York City
way of thinking of
Dickens, Charles
Dictaphone sting (recording of conversation)
Donnelly’s Detective Agency
Dooling, John “J. T.”
Dorner, prison keeper
Dougherty, Detective
Douglass, Sara C.
Downing, James
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan
in films
meets Burns
physical fitness of
spiritualism practiced by
visit to America
writing success
Doyle, Lady Jean
Doyle, Kingsley
Duncan, Judge
Earhart, Amelia
East Harlem
electric chair (“Old Sparky”)
Eller, Rufus
employment agents
in foreign countries, sending immigrants to U.S.
in Italy
in New York, sending laborers to the South
in the South
England, suffragist movement
Eugen, Mr. (Inez’s husband)
extortion
Eynon, William
Faurot, Joseph
Fay, Tom
fire department, New York City
fireworks
First World War
Fish, Edward
Florida, lumber trusts in
Flower Hospital
Flynn, Muriel
Flynn, William J.
Forrester, Izola
Fosdick, Raymond B.
Foster, W. S.
Fourth Branch of New York City detectives
Franc, Alissa
Francis, Adeline
Francis de Lauzieres, J.
Frank, Hannah
Frankel, Mrs.
Fu Manchu (character)
Funston, William
Gardner, major
Gargan, captain
Garretson, justice
Gas House Gang
Geisinger, Josephine
Georgina, Pasquale and Maria
Giacalone, Joseph
Giordano, Gregario
girls
accosted by boys
